Project 2- Utilize existing nitrogen fertilizer inputs more efficiently.
The Raizada Lab currently has 3 projects in this area:
A. Engineer Inexpensive Nitrogen Fertilizer Tests for Farmers and Scientists
Real-time measurements of soil or plant nitrogen levels are critical to a farmer understanding whether fertilizer needs to be added or whether it is being added in excess quantities, which can be environmentally damaging and costly. On farms in Ontario, and in research labs in many developing nations, measuring soil nitrogen levels (e.g. nitrate) accurately requires expensive equipment or cannot be performed on-site. For example, in Ghana, the cost of measuring nitrate in a single soil sample is $20 USD, far beyond the reach of most researchers. We are engineering biosensor bacteria that change colour in response to changing nitrate, ammonium and amino acid (glutamine) concentrations. Our goal is to develop a <$1 USD soil extract (nitrate/ammonium) test and (plant extract) glutamine test: free glutamine is a good indicator of the nitrogen status of corn. We are currently testing whether the latter technology may be used by breeders and molecular biologists to improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in corn and other cereal crops. A YouTube video is available on this project by clicking here.
B. Study Corn Root Hair Cells
Root hairs take up nitrogen and water, but there has been no previous studies as to how the root hair transcriptome of any plant species responds to these nutrients. We have undertaken the first ever transcriptome analysis of root hairs in response to nutrients in any species, and we have predicted promoter motifs that may underlie regulons of root hair gene expression. Our research suggests that root hairs are very sensitive sensors of their environment. We have also identified novel promoter motifs using a software program that we custom-developed for the maize genome called Promzea, which is publicly available and described here.
C. Optimize Cover Crops in the Corn-Soy-Wheat Rotation System
The Lab is a co-leader in the Long Term Cover Crops (LTCC) project to test and optimize cover crops and tillage systems to improve the sustainability of the corn rotation system.
Back to Lab Projects overview page
A. Engineer Inexpensive Nitrogen Fertilizer Tests for Farmers and Scientists
Real-time measurements of soil or plant nitrogen levels are critical to a farmer understanding whether fertilizer needs to be added or whether it is being added in excess quantities, which can be environmentally damaging and costly. On farms in Ontario, and in research labs in many developing nations, measuring soil nitrogen levels (e.g. nitrate) accurately requires expensive equipment or cannot be performed on-site. For example, in Ghana, the cost of measuring nitrate in a single soil sample is $20 USD, far beyond the reach of most researchers. We are engineering biosensor bacteria that change colour in response to changing nitrate, ammonium and amino acid (glutamine) concentrations. Our goal is to develop a <$1 USD soil extract (nitrate/ammonium) test and (plant extract) glutamine test: free glutamine is a good indicator of the nitrogen status of corn. We are currently testing whether the latter technology may be used by breeders and molecular biologists to improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in corn and other cereal crops. A YouTube video is available on this project by clicking here.
B. Study Corn Root Hair Cells
Root hairs take up nitrogen and water, but there has been no previous studies as to how the root hair transcriptome of any plant species responds to these nutrients. We have undertaken the first ever transcriptome analysis of root hairs in response to nutrients in any species, and we have predicted promoter motifs that may underlie regulons of root hair gene expression. Our research suggests that root hairs are very sensitive sensors of their environment. We have also identified novel promoter motifs using a software program that we custom-developed for the maize genome called Promzea, which is publicly available and described here.
C. Optimize Cover Crops in the Corn-Soy-Wheat Rotation System
The Lab is a co-leader in the Long Term Cover Crops (LTCC) project to test and optimize cover crops and tillage systems to improve the sustainability of the corn rotation system.
Back to Lab Projects overview page